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Monday, March 7, 2011

In honor of a certain overreaching family in southern California, I'm giving away three homesteading titles this week. I've ordered three copies of Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen's book, The Urban Homestead. They're now shipped and on their way to me. One is my copy, and two are up for grabs. Also, I'm giving away my own, gently used copy of The Backyard Homestead. Here's your chance to win one of these great titles.

To enter the drawing for one of these books, leave a comment on this post briefly describing your homestead - either as it exists right now, or what you hope to achieve in the future. Comments must be received by 6pm Eastern time, on Friday, March 11th, if you want a chance at winning one of these books. Sorry, but this is open to US residents only. **If you're not signed in with an identifiable account, leave enough identifying information so that I can verify the prize goes to the right person. (e.g. Clare in Boston, or something similar.)** If you're only interested in one or the other of these titles, please indicate that in your comment so I can be sure they go to readers who will use these books. If the random number generator picks someone not interested in a given book, I'll generate another number. I'll announce the winners by Monday, March 14th at the latest. Good luck!

101 comments:

We are on 1/3 of an acre in an older suburb of Chicago. We have about 200 square feet of permanent beds for annual vegetables. Last year we focused on adding perennial veggies and fruits: sunchokes, rhubarb, walking onion, currants, and grapes. This year we are adding a small orchard of dwarf apples and pears. Hopefully next year we'll be ready to add chickens or rabbits (or both!).

I already have a copy of f Erik and Kelly's book, but I'd love to enter for a copy of the Backyard Homestead.

I am just starting out with berries and rhubarb. We had to remove 20 feet of the lower branches to get some sun into our growing area in the backyard. However I want to know more to do more. I am interested in the Urban Homestead book, thank you.

We are just beginning this process. We live just outside a small city and will be renting a 30'by 30' plot from our county's community garden. This is only about 2 minutes from our home. We are very excited about this new adventure and need to learn a lot. The books would greatly help. Thanks for the chance to win them!

We have 3 acres; I currently have 2 dairy goat does (along with a buck & 3 kids, with one doe still left to kid). We also have chickens, and have had them for 5 or 6 years now. After having a variety of breeds over the years, we now have Chanteclers, a breed listed as critical by the ALBC. Last year we purchased an old cabinet hatcher, which I love! We also have a large garden; I'm not much of a gardener yet, but I'm working on it. We're also investigating beekeeping for the future.

We have just over an acre with about half of it usable. I plant a small garden every year and make it as organic as I can. I have a goat to help clean up the brush and poison ivy. I want to get some chickens and maybe rabbits in the near future. Thank you for the giveaway the books look great.

Janis on L.I. I have a small plot of land 60ft by 150ft. including the house. I have been growing most of our summer veggies organically for the last 5 years. We have pigeons (only animal allowed in our town) which provide fertilizer for the garden. I started looking into perennial crops and will have harvestable rehubarb this year!! I am interested in the Backyard homestead book!! Thank you!!

We live on about a 1/4 acre in a residential neighborhood. I have 2 4X8 box gardens and a small patch for blueberries and rhubarb. I am trying to talk my husband into more garden space. We have a limited amount of sun space. Either book would be fine. Thanks.

We have 1.78 acres in NEOhio. Since moving in about 5 years ago, we've built 13 raised beds, created a 45'x55' "traditional" garden area, planted 2 rows of blueberries, and one row each of black berries and red raspberries. We (mostly) heat with wood. Last year we started canning and dehydrating to add to the food we freeze. This year we're adding laying hens and I'm currently taking a beekeeping class - they might arrive next year. After all that it seems we've barely scratched the surface as to what we could do with our property!

This year I'm adding rabbits (done) and chickens. We're putting our house up for sale, so not much will be done on the gardening front. However, I will be helping my brother at his new garden and adding an herb spiral, a few blueberry bushes, and probably 1 fruit tree to our house. When we are somewhere more permanent, I envision a food forest with annual gardens in the middle to produce enough food to eat fresh and freeze to meet our food needs year round. Dreams! Until then, I'm workers-share CSAing, gardening at my brothers, and seed starting and saving at the local arboretum.

I live in a subdivision on 1/10 of an acre. Last year I did my first garden and I now have blueberry, blackberry, rasberry bushes. Pear, apple and peach trees and will double my garden this year. I will have chickens by spring. I love knowing that I can feed my family from my back yard...and eventually my front yard too!

We live in a small city, but volunteer daily at an agricultural education center a few miles away. At home, I grow all of my herbs, rhubarb, asparagus, clio dandelion, a wheel-barrrel full of greens, cherry tomatoes, three whiskey barrels which I rotate greens in, horseradish, strawberries, garlic, potatoes, and a few other movable planters which vary from year to year. My actual vegetable garden is at he farm; so is my very pregnant goat. My dream is to live in a cottage far away from civilization some day. I'm always interested in learning more!

We are currently suburban gardeners, with several raised beds for vegetables and several other areas we we are growing a variety of berries. We are hoping to add chickens and a chicken coop or chicken "tractor" soon.

We collect rainwater, have three different compost piles going at various stages of decomp, line dry our clothes most of the time, and we hope to have a small greenhouse built by the end of summer.

My husband and I are just starting out our little homestead in NC. We have a house on about an acre of land, but probably only 1/8th of it is cleared (the rest is woods). We've planted 3 blueberry bushes, 2 cherry trees and 2 nectarine trees. We're working on developing an 800 sq ft garden by our house. We plan to plant tomatoes, beans, greens, okra, eggplants, and a few others this year.

We're also thinking about starting a honey bee hive, and getting our own chickens. We really like this adventure and learning new skills. We're very thankful to be starting this way of life so early (we're in our 20s)!

I'd be interested in either book, but I think the Urban Homestead would be my first choice.

I have been a lurker here for a few months,now an official follower! We have just shy of 3/4 acre in NH. This year we are going to expand our veggie and herb gardens. We have strawberries, grapes,raspberries,and blueberries,all of which we are going to also expand upon so we can make more jam!!! We have chickens and turkeys. We compost,have rain barrels,can our food,make our laundry soap,candles,and cleaning products. I am currently teaching myself to knit. This year we are going to repurpose our sliding doors into cold frames.I hope next year to have goats and bees!!

We bought an acre with the intention of gardening on at least half of it. We wanted to also have chickens, aquaculture, an outdoor kitchen, and a greenhouse. Our county zoning department says we cannot have anything manmade of over half the acre and no fences that mess with the floodplain on most of the rest.

So, we are adapting our plans to grow more fruits that won't need fencing and then grow a small compact (urban-style!) vegetable garden in our small fenced yard with the dogs. We might squeeze a couple chickens in there, too.

We plan to put in gutters and a rainwater tank before this summer's monsoon season and we already put graywater on the first three planted fruit trees.

Oooo, please sign me up for "The Backyard Homestead" - I just had to return the copy I had to the library, and I would love to have one of my own.

Right now we live on a 1/5 small suburban plot - and we rent. However, our landlord is awesome - he's open to the idea of homesteading, as long as I don't make the property look weird from the street.

This spring I plan to put in three raised beds in the backyard, out of view from the street. That will be my "serious" veggie garden. The front of the house will be done in a mix of melons, pumpkins, strawberries, and lots of flowers so that it looks pretty.

Since the landlord is so awesome about this, I've ordered an old fashioned lilac tree to plant on the property. It will stay and produce flowers for years after we've moved on.

Ohhh I'd love a chance at the Urban Homestead. I have the other book already; it is FABULOUS and anyone who wins it will love it!

I live on 5.5 acres in NEOhio with a working orchard consisting of 110 apple, pear and quince tree. I put up as much as I can from their fruit. We also plant fairly large vegetable gardens and my hope is this year, to incorporate cold frames for growing through the winter.

I have about 1/3 of an acre in SE Mass. There are 8 fruit trees in the front yard, blueberries in the back. The garden is about 1500 sq ft at the moment, but I seem to be squeezing in more each year. We also have chickens. They are currently in a chicken tractor, but I'm converting my kids' old playhouse into a permanent coop and adding more hens.

I already have Backyard Homestead, but would love Urban Homestead! Thanks so much.

We live on 2 acres near Reading, PA. Saturday we doubled the size of our chicken flock to 8. We have about 5000 sq. ft of garden from which I harvest as much as can be put up in our small pantry and frozen to fill our two freezers. This year I opened it up to friends and sold 4 shares of my CSA. Partially to help them eat better and partially to help with garden/soil/property improvements. We purchase raw milk and grass fed beef from neighbors. I help my sister nearby raise meat chickens in the summer and we split them to freeze for the year. I cook/bake 80% of what we eat on a daily basis and we heat our house with free fallen wood, but not 100%. (My sister's 15 wooded acres helps with this.) Because of the heating system when we moved in we also supplement with oil. Thanks for blogging! I love that your garden is in the same zone as mine. You help me see other possibilities.

Hopefully I'll get lucky this time. We're on approximately 1/4 of an acre in North Dakota and have put in blueberries, apples, currants, and some raised beds. That's just a start, the big plan is to convert an old 1-car garage on the property to a working greenhouse this summer so we can have fresh veggies year round.

I've got 3 acres in central Arkansas, its an older place we purchased last year that is in the middle of subdivisions that have been built all around it.

This year so far we have planted 8 apple trees (http://www.kerriediaz.com/2011/02/apple-trees.html) and I'm working on our raised-bed gardens. When finished, we should have ~1,000 sq. ft of raised bed.

This weekend I set up some grow lights for our germinating sprouts. We have also started dehydrating this past year and I plan to do some canning as well.

We have done beekeeping in the past and are getting started back up on that activity, the bees are scheduled to arrive in April.

In the future, I plan to add chickens, rabbits, ducks, and maybe goats and/or sheep for meat.

I am on 1/4 acre (about) in Lexington, Kentucky. I have a small garden plot in the backyard that I am working on expanding. My ultimate goal is to have a small homestead (about 7 acres), but for now I'm living in the city. My summer projects include making rain barrels and learning to use my new (to me) sewing machine. I would love a chance to win either book-they both look fantastic! Thanks!

Please sign me up for the contest. Either book will be great. I am so pleased to see that there are so many "small homesteads" like mine. We live on just a bit over 3/4 acre. We have been gardening on a borrowed piece of property as well as what is in our back yard. We have two struggling cherry trees, and a struggling peach. One apple tree, thornless blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, strawberries and a grapevine. We also have chickens and rabbits. We hope to squeeze a couple of bee hives and a goat on here one day. I plan on growing a huge sunflower patch to dry and eat or feed to my chickens. Thanks for the inspiration.

Wonderful giveaway! My husband, toddler son, and I live on 10 acres in North Central Florida, most of which is made up of a forest full of ornamental trees. We have a raised-bed garden, blueberry bushes, a persimmon tree, an herb garden, and an almost-finished chicken coop that I hope to have filled up by summer time.

Thanks so much for the giveaway. I would love either of these books. We recently purchased a regular city lot in WY with plans to landscape with edible foods and create a vegetable garden. We'd like to produce as much of our own food as possible. Since we're still very much at the beginning these are some of the things we are thinking of: edible/living fence, chickens, rainwater storage as well as landscaping to divert precipitation to appropriate plants, unheated greenhouse for year-round garden, insulating a section of the cellar for a root cellar and using native and water-wise plants as much as possible.

20 acres in southern Indiana. We have two kids, two goats, four dogs, two cats, 35 or so chickens, 20 acres, 14 raised beds, a maple syrup evaporator, and will soon have a root cellar. We have full-time jobs on the side:) Life is good.

We live on a military base in the desert SW with very strict housing codes that do no allow me to do much but a few "decorational" garden boxes here and there. But we will have the opportunity to move in the next year or two and so I am learning as much as I can to prepare for that day. My dream homestead and one that I am voraciously preparing for will be 1-3 acres, with small animals (chickens, rabbits, goats, perhaps some pigs) and a bountiful garden as well as an orchard. It's an ambitious plan but I'm learning as much as I can about a wide variety of things so that no matter where we go next I'll be prepared to make a true homestead. We will be buying finally and I can't wait to get out of here!

I live on a very large California farm. My husband gave me 3 acres to have my own *homestead*...I grow all of our produce, chickens and in the spring I'll introduce goats. I would love the Urban Homesteading book...I have the Backyard Barnyard. I introduce and help set-up small backyard gardening/farming projects in my community. I manage the local community garden and one of the local certified farmer's markets...I have a huge library of homesteading/small-scale farming books I lend out.

I grew up in the *boondocks* - twenty miles fom the nearest small town. I inherited the property (3 acres) but there are(and were) not a lot of jobs. So I moved to the city, where I have less than a year to pay off my mobile home. I am going to have it moved back up to my property, and go back to raising chickens and rabbits along with a garden. With all major debt eliminated, I calculate that even a part time job would do for money. I have been looking into miniture cows, and thinking about a pig as well. I currently keep a garden, but urban restrictions prevent livestock. I can't wait to get back to *civilization*...

I live on a 1/4 acre in California's first and largest bankrupt city. We have chickens, goats, rabbits, bees, over 2 dozen fruit trees, and a huge garden. We're now converting out front yard into an edible landscape.

I already have Backyard Homestead so I'd like to be entered in the drawing for The Urban Homestead only. Thanks!

My homestead is but a dream at this time...but I am practicing while living on my small city lot. I have four chickens...a small garden...and I am teaching myself to preserve food for winter months. In the future I hope to have a much bigger garden...bees...possibly a goat or two...and MAYBE a cow...not sure about that one. I may just be content bartering goat cheese for fresh milk!

I don't have a homestead, but I have big plans for the future! I live in an area of Connecticut where the land is good for farming, and the local governments are trying to make life a little easier for small, organic farms of five acres or less.

I'm interested in raising chickens, rabbits, and a vegetable garden, particularly now that I know how to make lacto-fermented vegetables. I'll end up starting small, though, with things like onions and garlic and spring greens. Yum.

We have 36 acres in SC, mostly hay field at the moment and a nice little brick house. Unfortunately we live in suburban Atlanta so the homestead sits and waits until we are able to move there. Someday I will have chickens and other livestock and grow a great deal of our food myself. In the meantime I have a cooperative garden going down the road from our country house at my brother-in-law's. We are growing an ambitious garden this year. Wish us luck!

We live on a corner lot in a suburban neighborhood. Our backyard garden is the result of us being cheap(grow our own food to buy less groceries) and lazy (backyard garden=less lawn to water/mow). Seven years ago, we started with a few tomato, squash, and okra plants in some very poor soil. Now we have eight raised beds, four fruit trees,make our own compost and recently installed a prefab greenhouse. This year, I hope to add canning to my preserving options and talk my husband into some chickens. I'd love to have either book.

my "homestead" is located just outside of Chicago on a 35x140 lot. I do mostly raised bed growing, since I don't trust my soil. I live near several gas stations and several large roadways including an interstate highway built during the days of leaded gasoline. Every day I look for new ways to expand the amount of growing space I have. This year I'm going vertical, moving my strawberry patch to a vertical hanging system I'll hang on the fence.

I am hoping to win a copy of Urban Homestead, since they've been so effected by the Dervais drama. Also, I already have a copy of The Backyard Homestead which is also a great resource.

We are working on getting a 2.77 acre spot of land and setting up again. Our first homesite was getting set up wehn we hit a snag and had trouble with the bank and a bad lawyer,(Thin about that a bad lawyer) We long story made short we lost the house and the 1 acre it was on and we had just got set up to make a good run at it. We had a garden, a small group of fruit trees and a small patch of blackberrys and were just about get up and running with our chicken coop. We plan to redo it again but this next time with cash and no bank and never a lawyer again. Pete from CAcaliforniasurvivalist2009@yahoo.com

We have 1 1/2 acres - 1 is flat. The 1/2 is steep bank to the river. 5 Nigerian dwarf does, two bucks. Rhode Island red chickens and a garden that produces all of our vegetables. We hope to put in fruit trees this year.

Thanks for the giveaway!Oh, and I want a pig!kaiminani at gmail dot com

I already own and love The Backyard Homestead but I'd love to win the Urban Homestead book.

We have 3/4 acre (mostly shaded though) in a small town in a cold climate with a short growing season. We're learning as we go. We have three chickens (adding three more later this months) and two rabbits. We have a vermicompost bin and an outdoor compost pile. We collect rainwater. We're expanding the vegetable garden to the front yard this year. We planted some blueberry bushes and started a strawberry patch last year.

My goals include planting a couple of apple and plum trees, raspberries, and asparagus. I started canning last year and I hope to do even more this year. I have lots of other dreams too. :)

We live on a teeny, tiny lot that is fully shaded in the back in Milwaukee so our homestead is fairly small right now. We did put two container beds in last summer and I use a side flower bed as a garden as well. I've tried potatoes in a garbage can and will be doing a few of those this summer as well as pots of herbs, buckets of tomatoes and whatever else I can sneak in.

I even planted some tomatoes and rhubarb among the evergreen bushes in front of the house last year and the tomatoes did really well! We are no where near self sufficient, but my hope is to get close once we move to the country!

I'd love either of these. Just read the 1st one, but it was the 1st edition and I can't wait to see what they added.

I live in a concrete box on a concrete block in a concrete jungle. But I am from green, lush, beautiful places and I am trying like hell to get back to them. Living in all this grey has made me forget a lot of the skills I used while growing up, so I am in a process of re-learning. Either one of these books would be grand!

We have a standard size house/lot in suburia (WA) and five years ago tore out the standard landscaping of grass, azeleas, heather, etc. and replaced it with edible landscaping. Our motto...'if you can't eat it, don't plant it.'

We continue to experiment and learn more each year. Our goal is to eat year-round from our labours. This year we are participating in the "Growing Groceries" mentor program to help others become gardners.

Hi there, we have a number of fruit trees, blackberries, gooseberries, raspberries, rhubarb, lots of salad fixings, potatoes, carrots, 40 varieties of herbs, no pesticides (obviously) and tonnes of edible flowers.

What I really hope for in the future is a greenhouse for year round growing (we're in Ottawa-icky weather) and a few hens for eggs.

Hi, we live on one acre, most of it is not usable land. I love the urban homesteading movement, but unfortunately living in a neighborhood with an association is just to nerve racking. We are trying to move out to some land close by so as not to upset the neighbors! I love the country anyway and would love to get back there. Good luck to all, I really think the URBAN HOMESTEADING movement is wonderful! Ya think they'll come and get me?! lol Love to have the book Urban Homesteading! Thanks

I live on a 1/3 of a acre. I can't grow food in the back yard. I tried, it's too rocky. And my neighbors have complained about growing a garden in the front, so I have come up with a container garden that makes us both happy. It looks ornamental but it's actually functional. And as soon as I can afford the fence, I am going to keep chickens for their eggs and not for their meat! I'd like goats too, but I just don't have the room.

We have a medium sized city lot that had a small forest of pine trees when we purchased. They have since been cut down because of pine beetle. Last year I started with one raised garden bed...plan to add a second this year as well as a strawberry bed and rhubarb...potatoes next year.I would love to have a copy of the Backyard Homestead. Thank you for sharing.

We have a nice little square foot garden, which I am looking to expand this year. We have 6 little hens we started with last year, we hope to add a few more each year. We also have a rabbit. Little by little we'd like to expand, eventually I'd like a goat or two. Thanks! I'd be interested in either book.

Holy smokes!how cool to see so many people growing on little places.We are doing so too.We live on the edge of a small town in the desert and have the tinyist lot.But we have very generous neighbors that let us garden in their backyards.We have now enough area in intensive beds that we sell at a farmers market and at a 75 person cooperative CSA.For our own use we have a small flock of bantam hens,2 beehives and recently 2 nigerian goats(also in neighbors backyard)Along our property line are 8 espaliered fruit trees.Have also started a little rogue gardening with plantings of various herbs,jeruselem artichokes,etc out in waste areas.Dreams and crazy ideas,doing some salt harvest from local dry lakes,putting mushroom spawn out in the woods,tapping black walnut trees for syrup,make miso from homegrown beans next winter.Thanks for having this give away,sign me up.

We live on 1/4 acre and I hate grass! I would get rid of it all, but thats unfair to the dog and kids. So for now, we garden about 1/3 of our land. We would like to add chickens in the next year as well. We have a black berry side/fence that is so wonderful too!

I would love to read either of those books. I have many like them, but those titles are not on my shelf yet! Thank You!!

Wow, what a fabulous giveaway! Regardless of whether or not I win, thank you for offering it!

My little homestead is a work in progress. Aren't they all? My husband are fixing up a rundown 1955 house in the middle of suburbia. The side yard of our triangular lot is my kitchen garden. Thus far we've put in seven raised beds and a compost bin.

Right now the beds are about half empty, but I've got walking onions, a few pepper and eggplant bushes, the overwintered tomatoes, strawberries, borage, peas, beans, spinach, nasturtiums, beets, turnips, carrots, rhubarb, pepino melons, tromboncino squash, and radishes going. Plus a slew of seeds in their flats just poking their heads up.

The house had a lemon tree when we bought it (which has just gotten heavier and heavier loads of fruit each year now that it has someone giving it love) and we've added tangerine and orange trees this year. We plan to knock down the redundant inner wall of our doubled cinderblock fence and plant somewhere between six and ten fruit trees in the recovered space.

My greatest lament is that my husband, being asthmatic, has ruled out pretty much all livestock: no chickens, ducks, doves, rabbits, goats, or bees. Maybe I can get him interested in fish and aquaponics? At least he thinks solar panels and rain gutters (which I want to co-opt into rainwater cachement) will be good ideas.

As part of this year's fix-up proceedings, we're repairing the damaged flower beds along the front of the house. I've already informed him to expect them to contain peppers and chard. He agreed so long as I promised to keep melons and squash to the backyard. Progress!

We currently have a 174 sq. ft. garden and are adding 160 more this Spring. We are getting a bee hive next month and in the future hope to have chickens! I have checked out the Backyard Homestead from the library before and it is one of my favorite resources!

I'd love either of these books, especially the backyard homestead. We've got just a small plot for veggies, but we get so much out of it...and it's so rewarding. Maybe this year we'll get chickens! Oh, and maybe a pair of cherry trees! Just recently my husband joined me with my composting obsession...we're addicted! Thanks for the giveaway!

We live on a city lot with lots of trees in a mid-sized city. The back yard is full of garden beds, as our front yard does not get enough sun. We recently purchased 40 acres with friends outside town and are looking to sell our house here and built on our land. This year, in preparation, we will be planting fruit trees, potatoes, and onions on the land.

We currently live in a condo and every year do container gardening. This year we are actually starting our plants from seeds. Our goal is move to a house, but probably still in town and grow the majority of our veggies. We hope to have a totally edible landscape with fruit trees and berries for our fences. We love telling people how you can garden even if you live in a condo, so many people are amazed.

We have been searching for land with a house for 3 years now in the KCMO area. Steve is a structural engineer (p.e.) and so most of the homes we look at get on the not so structurally sound list. The search goes on.I read your blog and fantasize about moving our 5 kiddos out of this townhouse and onto a location non-restricted by HOA. I spend way too much time with realtors, online FSBO and craigslist websites. Someday we will find our 20+ acres with good soil at a decent price. We are crossing our fingers that interest rates go up soon. Yes, UP. Then these inflated by greed prices will be unfinanceable and sellers will have to lower their prices to sell. Until then, I try to learn vicariously and read all I can. Love your blog!!!

We live in a southern city. We use half of our backyard for our raised bed vegetable gardens. We also have grapes, figs and blueberries. We plan on adding more fruit trees. We have ordered baby chicks for the first time, they are due to arrive next week. I love our life.

We have 4 acres in southeastern Virginia (zone 7). Two of the acres are wooded and the other two allow us to have a produce garden, a few chickens, a few goats, and a bee hive with our bees due to arrive next month. Every year we try to expand on what we did the year before. I would love to win one of the books so I can continue to learn more about homesteading. I also enjoy sharing whatever I learn with the readers of my blog.

We live in a large old house on a corner urban lot. Midw city. Lot is about 80x120 and I've fought with the city over restrictions on growing stuff in the boulevards.

I'm very tempted to ask if I'm an Urban Homesteader if I grow squirrels. I seem to have lots of em that get into the house (we're fixing that, slowly). I do think that squirrel is a properly farmed animal tho. ;)

Actually have a few apple trees, plum, apricot etc. Put in berry bushes along my outside border and 7 raised beds and some hops up against the porch. Would love to tear out patio area and another junk tree to put in a greenhouse but them's just pure dreams at this point. Not got enough room for bees (city allows with requirements) but am thinking chicken or duck in another year).

current project: which section of the porch will get cut open to allow me to dig under it for a root cellar :D

Well we have somewhat sadly got ourselves stuck on 1/4 acre, but at least in a rural location, with a pretty nice garden in the backyard and our horses at a good neighbors down the road. Though my dad says we should have gotten chickens instead of horses, cause they give food you know. Someday. Always dreaming of getting to "our land"! Backyard Homestead is on my list for our next library trip but I have also been wishing for our own copy, thanks for the chance!Renee

Currently live on 5 acres in NW Washington. Have a large garden where I grow vegetables that I can, freeze and of course eat. Also have a small orchard of about 10 trees. We have a small flock of free range chickens and every couple of years we raise grass fed organic beef for our consumption. Would love to grow some berries, such as raspberries or blueberries and would love to start some raised beds.

We live on a 1/2 acre forested lot on an island in Puget Sound. The windfall trees make fair firewood, and we harvest wild nettles in spring and wild huckleberries in late summer. Covenants in our community prohibit livestock, even fowl. Our vegetable garden--eight beds totaling about 1000 sq. ft.--is located about 2 miles from home at a community garden. We grow raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, and annual veggies in addition to herbs like chamomile and anise hyssop that we dry for tea. My garden goals for this year center around soil fertility, including adding green manures.

My dreams for the future would include a different home site where we could capture more sunlight, care for our gardens at home, add fruit trees, and raise a few goats. I might even consider working on my bird phobia and raise hens! Until then, we're looking at more ways we can raise foodstuffs in the deer-filled, shady woods around our home.

oooh, it would be great to have the urban homestead. i have the Backyard Homestead already and it's great. thanks for the terrific giveaway!

we have about 1.5 acres reclaimed from lawn. keep bees and chickens. will be adding worms and other protein sources for the chx this summer plus extra garden produce. husband has a background in farming, i'm trying to catch up. : )

I live in an apartment so I guess I would be a great example of an urban homesteader. I rent land from family members to tend my beehives, grow veggies and even forage for food. Right now I'm tending a shitake mushroom kit that sits on my coffee table in my apartment. I freeze and can as much as possible and have also recently made my own beer. I might not have my own land but I don't let that get in the way of becoming more self-sufficient!-Erica in NW Ohio.www.ericasbees.blogspot.com

I usually just read your blog but I would like to enter. I have just started trying to be a little more self sufficient. I have a small 8x10 area in the back of my home and hope to grow some tomatoes and zucchini something easy. My boys are old enough to learn how to grow things. I would like either one which would help me. EmmyG thanx

rI am on 1/2 an acre in a suburb of Minneapolis. The first year we built about 15 raised beds, and will triple the area devoted to veggies this year. Last year we added bees, and tore up the front yard to plant apple trees. Also on the front yard we have an herb garden and we planted squash as well.

This year we are adding 2 more hives, more fruit trees and will continue adding more grapes to grow along our fence. A pond for the bees to enjoy is also on this summer's to-do list.

Awesome and thank you! I already own the Backyard Homesteader (great book, btw!), but would love a shot at the Urban Homestead. There are lots of Lisas in the world so I can be "Lisa doing her own Town-steading" as I'm not quite urban, rural or suburban! :)

Trying my hand at living green 100%. Last year we turned out property 100% organic. This year I plan on gardening all over my property taking advantage of every spot. Yeah! I live in Portland Oregon in the heart of the city. Even I can do it. I would love any one of your books. Just love it!

We are on 1.5 acres in Southcentral Alaska. We've been in this house for a year it came with some raised beds, a greenhouse, wild blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries. My gardening was a failure last summer. We added chickens this past fall. I hope to add more berries this summer and dairy goats next spring. I'd love to win a copy of the Urban Homestead as I already have The Backyard Homestead. dickinson_4(at)msn(dot)com

Wow! How did you know I had Backyard Homesteading on my Paperbackswap wish list? I would love a chance at it, I already own urban homesteading and consider it a very essential part of my library. I have a 1/4 acre lot in a subdivision in central WA. I have some edible landscaping such as blueberry bushes and herbs, but hope to expand it even more this year with some dwarf fruit trees and more herbs, along with a seasonal kitchen garden.

We are still in the planning stages, since we're still looking for our 'forever home'. We're planning a large garden with a chicken moat (which, of course, means we'll have chickens), lots of blueberry and blackberry bushes, and probably a few apple trees. My fiancee wants ducks, so we're looking at getting a couple of those too. I already can a lot of my harvest, so we'll probably expand that, and add a chest freezer.

My husband and I have just started the homesteading journey. Waiting for enough snow to melt to extend gardens and we want to get a chicken coop in this year. We have been blessed with 5 acres with my mom owning an adjacent 5.

I would like to enter for both books, as anything that will help us along this journey would be a blessing.

Hi from just a bit south of you, Kate.Right now, we have only a tenth of an acre. We have churned up the entire back yard, with the exception of under the clothes line to be garden. We have a compost pile, though I would like to get two going this spring, a la Eliot Coleman. Up until this fall, we had Khaki Campbell ducks, which had an untimely demise by different predators. We plan to beef up security and try again this spring because chicken eggs pale in comparison. :) In the front yard, we have some raspberries, blackberries and a dwarf fruit tree that we haven't identified, as it was the only one from six to survive transplanting and a house fire. We would like to have rhubarb and asperagus soon, so if anyone is near Dover, DE and has extra roots, I'd love to have them! Either one of the books would be fantastic.

I live in a suburban sub-division...I have about 120 sqfeet of garden with the goal this weekend of adding another 96 or so sqfeet...I've ask for blue berry bushes for my birthday...and I am lusting over apple trees...I want chickens but the rules of the Home Owners Assoication say NO...I crochet, make my own bread, make my washing soaps and just do what I can to be frugal and earth frinendly...oh and this weekend I get worms...yay compost

We have 6 acres, which sounds luxurious, but it's mostly ROCKS! We're working on it, though. I don't have any homesteading books (right now I'm wondering why I don't!) so either book you mentioned would be a real treat. Thanks for the great give-away.

We live on a two acre parcel about 1/2 of which is our yard and house in rural Maine. I have expanded the vegetable garden each year, reclaiming land from the lawn. Last year we added an unheated greenhouse. We have a pear, apple, and peach tree. We may add a chicken tractor, inspired by yours this year. I would be happy to have either book or both and I appreciate your bringing the situation in CA to our attention.

I would very much like a copy of the Urban Homestead. We have an interesting situation... I grew up with my siblings on my parents rural homestead. They have tried many different projects and had varied success and different levels of self-sufficiency. Well, my small nuclear family lives in the city 20 minutes from my recently-widowed dad. So, he aims to keep his retirement un-retired, but needs assistance with his ideas. Enter, me, my husband, my daughter, and often my other siblings, when available. So far we are re-organizing the garden, helping to repair fences, prune the orchard, turn compost, repair the old chicken coop so we can start a flock, cleaning out old storerooms, etc. In essence, I'm commuting to my homestead. It's a new experience, and your blog has given me some great ideas, inspiration, and information.

We live on 3/4 of an acre in a rural area of Oregon. We have a fairly large garden. Lots of fruiting trees and plants spread all through the yard. We currently have chickens and 1 bee hive(soon to be two). We are trying our hand at growing mushrooms on logs and making our own olive oil, and smoking meat. Recently we took a class on how to make cheese. So we are trying to become self sustainable in some little way. We both work but I hope to stop soon. We also put up all our produce for use during the lean months of winter. I love your blog. Thank you

We are in the process of completing the purchase of one acre in the Minneapolis/St Paul metro. The dream is a big garden and chickens and a mini-orchard and more. But where to start?!?! I've been reading blogs for hours looking at ideas. Oh to have a little reference library that the public library doesn't want back from me every few weeks.

We live in the boondocks on 3 acres of land surrounded by family land. Right now we have a small veggie garden that I am waiting to plant. Hopefully in the years to come my knowledge of gardeing will grow greatly, as well as the size of my garden! I also have an 8x12' greenhouse waiting on an exhaust fan... I accidentally left the door shut on Tuesday and my thermometor said it got up to 125* that day! Yikes!! I have some healing herbs planted around the green house as well. Chickens are in the plan, but probably not this year. DH wants a few goats, too, so we're looking into what it takes for them. We have a few fruit trees and bushes planted so far, and intend on adding more. One day I'd like to be able to set up a a booth somewhere with organic veggies and homemade goats milk soaps!

Right now I have a huge veggie garden and two compost piles, and we try to eat real food as much as possible. But in the future, I'm seriously considering getting backyard chickens and making our own butter and cheese.

I am not currently Homesteading, but have positioned myself well to do so. In the next 3 years I will be building a house on a corner of some land my family has owned for a few generations. Two of my aunts currently own houses on the property. My house will be made primarily of timber from the land (we have to log so many trees per year to keep the property tax credits). The timbers for the structure have all been cut and are drying for construction. The land currently has 3 cows that were given as a gift to my daughter, and by the time we are ready to live there full time they will be producing enough milk to sustain my family. We will have a few beef cows as well. As for veggies, there are already 3 large, established gardens from which my aunts and myself grow tomatoes, cukes, lettuce, corn, spinach, peas, carrots, and squash. There are berry (strawberry and blackberry) bushes scattered throughout the property, and a very large patch on the border of on of the gardens. I plan on living off this land as my grandparents did for so many years. There was never a canned vegetable in my grandmothers kitchen, everything came from the garden. Their income came from the maple syrup they made, and much of the meat from the pigs they kept. Gosh, Id love both books! Surprise me and pick one! ;-)

We've got a tiny little urban yard in Minneapolis -- not much space to work with, but we've pulled out most of the grass and put in garden beds (lots of root crops, some tomatoes, and some lettuce last year) and hope to convert part of our shed to a chicken coop in the next year or so. We're still in the experimentation stage to figure out what will work best, but one of our big goals is to produce a wide variety of fruits, particularly in cases where we can find those that will grow and thrive in our Minnesota climate and that can replace the fruits that are shipped in from tropical places.

A copy of either book would be great! Thanks for doing the giveaway! :)

About me

I live on a 2/3 acre homestead in a residential neighborhood. A major goal is to demonstrate how much food a non-expert can produce in my particular climate and hardiness zone, with the soils native to my immediate area. We have gardens of annual and perennial plants, keep laying hens and honey bees, and regularly bite off more than we can chew. Another major goal is to pay off our mortgage as fast as possible. Here I blog about frugality, self-reliance, gardening, cooking and baking, food preservation, practical skills, half-baked experiments, and preparing to thrive in a lower-energy future.